CUENCA ARCHITECTURE, ECUADOR

Quenca is the cultural capital of Ecuador (Quito being the political capital and Guayaquil the economic capital) and is situated in the southern highlands at an elevation of 2530m.

In 1999 its centre, full of colonial splendour, was declared a UNESCO world heritage site.



Parque Calderon forms the hub of the historic district, dominated by the relatively new cathedral of the Immaculate Conception built in 1885.

The park is a popular chill-out space where Cuenca’s residents sit and read their newspapers, tilt their heads up to the sun and listen to classical music piped through speakers. In the evening the park becomes a venue for live music from various bands.


Go down any of the streets off the park and you will see beautiful examples of colonial houses with their balconies and ornate plasterwork facades.

There are also more modest single storey houses built for the poorer residents whose whole families and their animals would pack inside at night.


Interspersed are brutal 60’s cement buildings - apparently dating from the time emigrants left for the USA and returned to tear down their old fashioned colonial residences in favour of more modern architecture. And the 60’s is where architectural time froze - to this day buildings are still being erected in the same style.

Luckily there are also magnificent churches and museums on nearly every corner looking over many other fine plazas in the city.



Rio Tomebamba, where women still wash their clothes and spread them out on the grass to dry, separates the historic district from the modern sector where there are glitzy shopping malls, cinemas, sports centres and high rise condominiums.